Tag search results for: preventing illness

Spring is the perfect time to clean out your medicine cabinet. Public Health Nurse Angie Royal explains that disposing of the left over painkillers from your surgery, the antibiotics you stopped taking because you were feeling better, and other medications can prevent poisoning, misuse and abuse.

Children are one of the most high risk groups of acquiring illness because of their developing immune systems and normal growing behaviours (i.e. placing hands and/or objects in their mouths). These behaviours combined with close contact and poor hand hygiene of children make daycares high risk locations for illness.

Personal services settings provide non-medical procedures designed to enhance a person's appearance or sense of well-being, such as hair styling, manicures, and tattooing. The Porcupine Health Unit inspects these facilities to ensure that the public is safe from the transmission of blood-borne diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV/AIDS.

The Porcupine Health Unit investigates all animal incidents where there is a break to the skin, such as teeth marks and scratches, for the risk of rabies. If you have been involved in an incident, report animal incidents to the health unit so follow-up can begin.

As the weather starts to become warmer, I’m sure we are all thinking about how to enjoy the great outdoors in Northern Ontario. But the warmer weather also means that other creatures, such as mosquitoes and ticks, become more active. Mosquitoes can carry West Nile virus which can lead to severe illness in populations like children and the elderly. Ticks can carry illnesses, such as Lyme disease, that can lead to lifelong health problems. So, please keep in mind these tips.

Illnesses can be passed to people through other sources, such as a mosquito or a tick bite. These illnesses are not currently widespread in the Northeastern Ontario area. There is a possibility that, as a result of changes in climate and migration, the mosquitos and ticks that are capable of causing illnesses could one day be a concern.